"When you do dope,
you play better on dope.
Period."
-Mind Wondrin
Was that the original slogan
that Nancy Reagan was kicking around
before the DEA convinced her
to go with "Just say No"
Great deal of separation here
allows for insights
just how tight this band was
for European 72.
The cleanup makes this way more listenable.
almost sounds\\an in-studio recording
with applause added.
Remember how the Brits were so polite
to hold their applause
on those smoking
Led Zeppelin BBC recordings?
Telegraphing-Time on tour-
could make one an expert at
sniffing out the next tune.
Almost like a big game of :
I can name that tune in _____ notes.
PIG is pulling an equal share
in the whose turn is it
and what do we play next.
Harp comes out for Big Boss
China>Rider>Playin' is the epi-center
of the 18 song first set
Set Two
Very intense and all so groovy
Climaxing with a Psychedelic Other One
and closing with 3 encores
(BROKEDOWN sums it up so sweetly)

People have really weird ideas about maintenance dope use and how they know exactly how it affected Jer's mood on any given night. Or that there exists some mythical concoction called "Persian" (an inside code word for what was just...dope). When you do dope, you play better on dope. Period.
The 3rd night of E72 was good, but we have the benefit today of knowing it was a lesser show compared to other nights. There are some great moments along with some iffy stuff like Bobby on Jack Straw and a Comes a Time that never gels). Playin' sits way out in jazz land; isn't bad, but again, not best of tour and has bad Donnaskreech™ .
1st Set:  B- (1hr 45min and longer than 2nd!)
2nd Set: C+
Ovderall = 3¼ Stars
Highlights:
Greatest Story - Right out of t'gate explosion. A+
Deal - also on Steppin Out. All cylinders pumpin'
Chinatown Shuffle - In top 5 versions for tour
Next Time - same
Casey Jones - letter perfect albeit straight reading
Truckin>Drums - Surely one of the best of tour
The Other One - very jazzy version
SOURCES: The giles SBD or official.

Good Lovin' is seriously jamming. Ramble On Rose is definitive. There are only a couple of Truckin's as good as this. This was an impromptu show at a good stage making for one of their best.
This first set and 5/23 second set are my picks

quite a good version, we'll leave it at that on the rest, all these E 72 shows have a gem or two though.

Does anybody recall what year Garcia was pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike and busted for possession of what the police said was a "suitcase full of heroin and cocaine"?
For by far the best Jack Straw, listen to December 5, 1971. Phil sings just about the whole song with Bobby. That show also features my favorite Brown Eyed, Tennessee, Casey, Saturday Night and Ramble on Rose.
Have to give this show at least four stars for the pedal steel on Looks Like Rain.

This was my first Dead show. I was a spotty 19 year old from a council house in North east England who had discovered The Dead via John Peel. My mind was blown that night and has been blown ever since.

sugaree & deal. two perfectly executed versions.

The final 3-4 minutes of this Truckin' is sublime GD music, sounds like Phil is quoting Miles Davis Footsteps. After Miles Bitches Brew opened for the Dead in '70, by now the Dead's improvisation prowess could better match that of the Brew.

My favorite Greatest Story, because the boys and girl kick it hard from the start!!!!!

As below. A very solid show. The sound is a bit muddy. Has to be a better version out there (or in the vault) as the Brokedown is on the official release Steppin Out, and it is pristine. The slide on LLR is superb and a spacey jammed out Truckin' and Other One. A gem of a second set. Download and enjoy.
sound 3.5
playin 4.5
note this this not the same city as the 1970 Newcastle-Under-Lyme. This is farther north where the local Geordies (pronounced as if Jordy's) population speak some uncomprehensible dialect and beat the hell out of each other every Friday night after drinking themselves into oblivion. And those girls wear nothing at all on the coldest of nights. ;) A very fun town, really.

the boys at thier finest, sound starts a little muddy buts pans out in the end, 4 on th e sound and a definate 5 on the playin and song selection, brokedown, big boss man next time, this show contains an amazin truckin, all you 77 freaks give this one a spin and see why one drummer rules...no shuffle sugar mags here!
pure unadultarated rock and roll...we miss ya jer,i know your rockin em up there!

This is when the adrenalin kicks in and they find their speed - Playin is particularly hot... The good lovin is smoking and the truckin>other one is intense and surreal - This picks up momentum the way a river does as all the little creeks feed into it all of the sudden its a whopper with class V waves...
The other one is easily one of the best of the tour kind of a cross between Wigan and Amsterdam which are both required listening... Arnd 34:30! the first licks of caution kick in and then Garcia turns 180 degrees backing into a fire and brimstone other one and you get your second verse comes a time is a disappointment at this point... but a nice sugar mag sorts that out.

Yet another worthy addition from Europe, with a unique, early L.L.Rain. What more can you say about this period. It's no mystery why, one by one, these shows get commercially released. Unless there is a better quality tape floating around somewhere, I doubt this one will, but the sound is, apart from the acknowledged muddiness, extremely listenable. Solid 4 stars. Oh yeah, just a little warning, before I let you go, GSET and PITB are RBD!(ruined by donna)

This is one of those shows where you get the feeling that everyone is playing and thinking "Yeah goddammit we are the Grateful Fxcking Dead and that is why your brain is melting."
Newcastle puts nearly everything else in 1972 to shame.
Try this experiment: listen to the show out of only the left channel (or whichever channel has Bobby's guitar on your set-up). You'll discover then the answer to the question: why does everything after 1974 sound so different? In a nutshell -- Weir never came closer to eclipsing Jerry as a guitarist than he did during 1972-74 -- at least until the time that it no longer mattered (i.e., anyone could have done so in the band's final decade).
Even Keith Richards might have raised an eyebrow after listening to Weir's explosive chords during the instrumental section of Greatest Story Ever Told. And his sublime counterpoint on songs like Deal and Tennessee Jed brings tears to my eyes.
That said, you'll want to have both channels working for most occasions. :) Jer's pedal steel on Looks Like Rain is really really sweet -- my favorite version of this song by a long shot.

This LLR is sick...harmonies are fantastic....steel is a great addition to this Bobby classic. Before you pass over this show at least listen to that track.

the other one....damn..

Written in such detail as could only be derived from Dennis McNally's book, Garcia did not start smoking heroin until the first part of 1977. I may have to give up the notion of trying to straighten facts out in the various forums I read. There might be a book's worth of false legends about the Grateful Dead within just the review pages of this website. Perhaps an encyclopedia's worth of sources for these legends.
It wasn't being "too smacked out to sing"; rather, Jack Straw at this point still didn't feature Jerry on counter-verse, singing the "watchman" and "Tulsa" points of view for the second character of this Hunter classic. Bobby sang the whole song possibly through this entire tour. Jerry's counter-verses on Europe '72 were overdubbed in the studio.
Addendum 30 minutes later: it appears that 5-11-72 Rotterdam is the first show where Jerry sings the counterpoint verses. Great show there.
I'll also offer a 3-star rating to this DL, only for sound quality.
The rumour of all of Europe '72 as the next special edition commercial release should be as much evidence as anything else that the entire tour was 5-star playing from start to finish.

i assume the only time period where you get this. phil on harmonies? beautiful stuff, and bittersweet slide from Jerry. According to stories, I don't know if Jerry has been introduced to the smack, yet. Poor vocals could be due to other reasons.

OK, the Jack Straw was nice, (albiet a little mellow for my tastes,) but the vocals aren't there. That's my biggest "bummer"- when Jerry is too smacked up to sing. Sorry guys, another three star show.

I'm not sure if I had the same problem that the other reviewer talks about with the download (I may have done the lo-fi option), but this show shoul not be by-passed. It may be lower quality than some of the pristine boards from Europe (hence the 4 stars), but the music is almost 5 stars: tight first set, short-but-psychedelic early '72 PITB, rollicking Good Lovin', extended Truckin', and sweet Brokedown. But the real hidden gem is the Feelin' Groovy jam tucked inside the Other One (starting at about 11:30 in). Worth a listen.

The hi fi mp3 download is one 3 hour mp3 file and the tracks are out of order. Sound quality is very good.